The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1885, Page 42

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Awake!

‘Awake! awake! thou sleeper,
No longer slight the call,
Nor trifle with the judgment
Which on thy head may fall;
E’en now the clouds do gather,
Which soon may burst on thee;
Awake! awake! O sinner!
To Christ, the Saviour, flee.”

——— 0

Inspired Family Rules.

God.

such thing; but that it should be holy and

wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his
wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet
hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cher-
isheth it, even as the Lord the Church: for we
are members of His body, of His flesh, and of
His bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto
his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This

Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let
every one of you in particular so love his wife,
even as himself; and the wife see that she rev-
erence her husband.”’ F

‘Likewise, ye husbands dwell with them
according to knowledge, giving honor unto the
wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life; that your
prayers be not hindered. For a woman which
hath a husband is bound by the law to her
husband so long as he liveth; but, if the hus-
band be dead, she is loosed from the law of her
husband.”

‘Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to
your own husbands; that, if any obey not the
Word, they also may without the Word be
won by the conversation of the wives; while
they behold your chaste conversation coupled
with fear. Whose adorning, let it not be that
outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel:
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in
that which is not corruptible, even the orna-
ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in
the sight of God of great price. For after this
manner in the old time the holy women also,
who trusted in God; adorned themselves, being
in subjection unto their own husbands: even
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord:
whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well,
and are not afraid with any amazement.”
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord:
for thisis right. Honor thy father and mother;
which ie the first commandment with promise;

‘But I would have you know, that the head
of every man is Christ, and the head of the
woman is the man; and the head of Christ is
Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself
for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the Word; that
He might present it to Himself a glorious
Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any

without blemish. So ought men to love their

of the Father.

—_———————2—- o-oo

is a great mystery; but I speak concerning

appoint him his portion with the hypocrites:

ciations which the Son of God uttered against you.

that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest (For the ‘*Lutheran Pioneer. ’’)
live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, pro-| A Comparison between Faith and Unbelief.
voke not your children to wrath; but bring
them up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord.”’

Faith is the root of all good.

Unbelief is the root of all evil.

Faith maketh God and man good friends.
Unbelief maketh them enemies.

Faith bringeth God and man together.
Unbelief parteth them.

All that Faith does pleases God.

All that Unbelief does displeases God.

Faith only maketh a man good and righteous.
Unbelief only maketh him unjust and evil.
Faith maketh a man a member of Christ.
Unbelief maketh him a member of the devil.
Faith maketh him the inheritor of heaven.
Unbelief maketh a man inheritor of hell.
Faith maketh a man the servant of God.
Unbelief maketh him the servant of the devil.
Faith takes a firm hold on the word of God.
Unbelief wavers here and there.

Faith holds God to be true.

Unbelief holds him false and a liar.

Faith knows God.

Unbelief knows him not.

Faith loves God and the neighbor.

Unbelief loves neither of them.

Faith only saves us.

Unbelief only condemns us.

Faith gives all honor to God and his deeds.
Unbelief gives all honor to man and his deeds.
Ong.

s+ --<> o —o
Feeding upon Christ.

“But how are we to feed upon Him?”’ some
may ask. We reply, The written Word reveals
Him, in the Word of God the Holy Ghost tes-
tifies of Him. Thus, pondering the Holy Script-
ures and receiving God’s thoughts in faith,
we enter into the divine testimony of Jesus the
Son of God—His personal glories, His finished
work, what He is to God, what He is to us and
for us; thus we feed upon Him, and our hearts
are gladdened and our inner man strengthened.
In this way we shall be so attracted to Him, so
taken up with His perfections, that in our
measure we shall be able to say, ‘‘We beheld
His glory, the glory as the only-begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth.’’ And
being occupied with Him, He will be to us the
attractive, absorbing, commanding, and satis-
fying object of our hearts. We thus obtain
strength for service. It is communion, enter-
ing into the love aud power of Christ, and find-
ing satisfaction and delight in the same object
which perfectly satisfies and delights the heart

es =

Hypocrites. Love a Teacher of Works.

If an evil servant say in his heart, ‘‘My| Love will in and of itself teach a man how

Lord delayeth His coming,’’ and gets down into | to do good works; for a good work is a work
the world, and lives like the world, ‘the Lord | that is good and serviceable to our neighbor.
of that servant shall come in a day when he| Therefore this love is nothing more nor less

looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is| than a constant working for our neighbor, for
not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and | which reason the work itself is called love, even
as faith is also called prayer; accordingly Jesus
says, John 15, 12—13, This is my command-
ment, that ye love one another, as I have loved
Greater love hath no man than this,
hypocrites, some idea may be formed of their] that a man Jay down his life for his friends.
portion; and so far as He has given any inti-| ‘That is, so fully have I performed all works for
mation in all His teaching, it isa portion which | your good, that my life itself has been given
never changes, which never ents. for you, which is the very greatest of all love,
—>- 2 or, in other words, the very greatest work of
. love. If I had known a greater love than this,
Seeing the Gospel. I would also have done that for you. It is
therefore your. duty to love one another, or, in
other words, to do all manner of good the one
to the other. More than this I do not ask of
you. I donot say that for me you must build
churches, make pilgrimages, fast, sing, or be-
come monks or priests, or that you must enter
upon either this or that calling. But you are
doing my will and working in my service when
you do good toward one another, and when no
one seeks simply his own advantage, but labors
to promote the welfare of others. Herein lies
the sum and substance of love.—wuther.

———s—- oa >

there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth,”’
(Matt. 24, 50. 51). From the terrific denun-

‘‘Have you ever heard the Gospel before?”’
asked an Englishman at Ningpo. of a respect-
able Chinaman, whom he had not seen in his
mission-room before. ‘‘No,” he replied, ‘but
Ihave seen it. I know a man who used to be
the terror of his neighborhood. If you gave
him a hard word he would shout at you, and
curse you for two days and nights without ceas-
ing. He was as dangerous as a wild beast and
a bad opium smoker; hut when the religion
of Jesus tovk hold of him he hecame wholly
changed. He is gentle, moral, not soon angry,
and has left off opium. ‘Truly, the teaching

is good!”? Curist is the way to holiness.